The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-03-31
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struggle of late to break the power Of ring
rule. Under any circumstances it Is mis-
fortune for a city to fall under that kind OF
rule no matter what party the ring pretends
to represent. But when it is simply cor
rupt combination of the worst elements,
organized under political forms and pretexts
for bad purposes, it becomes public calam-
ity and source of danger. The ring of which
Sim Coy is the recognized leader is ooe Of this
kind. No city ever had q worse one. Recent
exposures in Cincinnati and Chicago have
developed very rotten and desperate state of
affairs in those cities, the direct result Of boss
management, such as is now being prac
ticed here to an extent Joe Mackin repre-
scented the same kind Of parties and practiced
the same kind Of methods in Chicago that Sim
Coy does here. They brought Mackin to the
penitentary, but Coy is still the recognized
leader and boss of his party. The discovery
Of the tally-sheet forgeries opened the eyes Of
the community to what was goingon. 1t was
startling revelation of Sim Coyism. 1t was
known in general way before that the worst
elements of the city were leagued together
against the cause of law and order, and were
being led and marshaled by this fellow, but
it took something like the tally-sheet forgeries
to rouse the public to the actual condition of
affairs. That did. There followed very
earnest public movenent-the appointment
of the Committee of One Hundred, and ener-
getic measures for the detection and punish
| ment of the perpetrators of the fraud. What
the outcome will be remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, is Sim Coyism alarmed? Has
Coy concluded to take back seat? Have the
Democratic leaders shown themselves pos
sessed of virtue or decency enough to deprive
him of his leadership Not at all. He is
still the recognized boss, as he was before and
if anything, is greater. At meeting of the
Democratic city central committee on Tues
day night he laid down the law like an
autocrat, and his authority was undisputed.
AS chairman Of the committee he was also
its spokesman. The committee was called
| together to select city ticket for a conven-
| ton to ratify. Coy reminded them that
''about all of US know the persons we want to
nominate, but we must do our work up in
tell-tale forgeries nor bungling erasures. 1--WE
must do our work up in decent manner"
Then he talked about the necessity of COR
ganization," which, in the Coy vocabu-
| larry, simply means machinery for fraud
| Then he suggested that the choice
of candidates and fixing the date Of the con-
executive committee" for said the crafty
Coy, "my experience has been that the fewer
men you have in this politics the better it
will be done" That is Sim Coyism in a nut
she'll 'The fewer men you have in this
politics the better it will be DONE" For the
kind of politics represented by Coyism, that is
undoubtedly true. There are some secrets that
it will not do to tell, and some jobs that will
not stand many confederates The committee
drank in these words of wisdom, and looked
up to the speaker in respectful admiration;
"And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew,
That one small head should carry all he knew"
So it was decided to refer the selection of
candidates to. the executive committee. OF
course that means Sim Coy. the candidates
! hoxy haa Al s,,
| vention will second his decision. This is the
elimination Of ring rule, the perfection OF
bossism. It would seam to be about time TO,
ings, with a view of ascertaining whittier they
are drifting.
SOME time in January last conference OF